For the longest time it’s been all about those three little letters, because when you see them, you know it’s going to be good. No, not UFC — we’re talking PPV. And in this acronymic world we live in, the one in which TKO owns UFC and WWE, it’s weird to pair these ones: RIP, PPV.
UFC 323 is the last of the a la carte events. Gone will be the days of people getting shut down trying to order the fights on ESPN+. And those skinflints out there still carrying a parrot on their shoulders, no more need for such piracy. The modern man merely needs to subscribe to Paramount+ to see the full bounty of what the UFC has to offer.
Pour one out for UFC 45: Revolution.
So long, UFC 33: Victory in Vegas.
Even before UFC 323 those titles were barely remembered. But now, they’ll be out of print for good.
Instinctively, a pay-per-view was never something to be coveted. Nobody ever asked to pay a ransom to see the sport they love. Yet intuitively, it came to mean value in the UFC, camaraderie with fellow diehards, exclusivity from any casual glances. It distinguished a BIG card from a common one. I’ve already written about such pre-nostalgic things when the news of pay-per-view's end times was announced back in August. The biggest concern is that there won’t be an easy mechanism in play to distinguish marquee events from the common lottery. Or that, on this grey subscription-based plateau in a sport where there is no offseason, that the drone of events will begin to blend.
Will premiere cards still carry the same weight? Can a lesser title fight be thrown onto a card in, say, Tulsa, Oklahoma? Will APEX cards go the way of the dodo, or will we be locked in the Vegas warehouse — where nobody is around to hear our screams — for yet another year? Is whatever’s left of the meritocracy going to die? If people aren’t paying (directly) for title fights, will their voices even be heard on which fights matter? Because nobody was pining for Diego Lopes to get another title shot so soon, yet in the Paramount+ era the opportunity was rolled out before him like a filthy red carpet.
Any protests couldn’t be heard in those war rooms deep within UFC headquarters.
Sometimes people pinch themselves to make sure they still feel. A little pain can be good for perspective, which was what the pay-per-view was. It was a pain in the a$$, mostly. Ordering was a pain. Illegal streaming was a pain. The rising prices were a pain, and therefore the gambling of your disposable income was a painful thrill. The idea that the UFC was profiting from all of this in far bigger ways than the fighters themselves was an ethical pain, though — rest assured! — that one will continue to flourish in the new era. UFC is getting paid. But the most recognizable champions will no longer deal in the mysterious (yet comforting) realm of “pay-per-view points.” What will all that mean? Stay plugged into Paramount+.
But I’ll miss the vibe of the pay-per-view.
Remember UFC 19: Ultimate Young Guns? God, what a time. And UFC 82: Pride of a Champion? Didn’t that one headline the Arnold’s out there in … oh, hey, sorry to cut that thought off, but if you’re ever in the city’s digital library, check out UFC 26: The Brawl in Buffalo. It was banned in several states!
Let’s face it, the pay-per-view model is outdated, anyway. Numbers are down, because people have figured out ways around paying, and passion is down, because the UFC stopped fanning the flames. Buffalo Wild Wings, which used to have a door charge for pay-per-views, isn’t exactly banking on big draws for numbered events anymore. The WWE punted on pay-per-views a while back and wrestling hasn’t missed a beat. DAZN did the same thing with boxing pay-per-views, only — in keeping with the credo of doing away with the model — it made the small mistake of still charging people extra to view certain fights. You know, like a pay-per-view.
Yet with Netflix now dabbling in the fight game, streaming services is where it’s all headed. The UFC isn’t run by traditionalists; it’s run by shrewd businessmen. Staying the same is the same as dying a slow death, and the UFC doesn’t just move with the times, it often becomes the times.
UFC 40: Vendetta. UFC 76: Knockout. UFC 16: Battle in the Bayou.
The subtitles went away a long time ago.
Now we arrive at UFC 323, when the price points disappear too. If they still did subtitles on the pay-per-views, this one could be called UFC 323: End of an Era. Or UFC 323: The Last of the $85.07. Or UFC 323: Final Minus Before the Plus. That one has a certain ring to it, doesn’t it? Final Minus Before the Plus. I like that.
At least the hook for this one is that Merab Dvalishvili, who can never be accused of being a major draw, is trying to make history in the final fight of the final pay-per-view. Four title defenses in a year is unprecedented. He has a chance to make some history at a historic event, closing the book on one chapter as we begin a new one.
And if he takes Petr Yan down and holds him there for 25 minutes? Well, there’s a small comfort in knowing that it’s the last time we’ll hear what a rip-off it all was.
